Look no further than Tuesday's special election in the crimson state of Alabama, where greater-than-expected African-American turnout buoyed Democrat Doug Jones to victory over Republican Roy Moore. Jones' defeat of the flawed Moore was both stunning and historic. Reasonable people can debate the takeaways from the election result, but an undeniable one is that Jones doesn't win without robust black turnout.

Jones recognized it as he vociferously thanked the "African-American community" for helping to deliver the win. It reminded me of Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley pouring out the love for African-American voters during his re-election victory speech this past November. Cranley also understood that without the stronger than predicted support from African-Americans in Roselawn, Evanston, North Avondale and Bond Hill, Yvette Simpson might very well be sitting in the mayor's chair.

Both Democrats and Republicans recognize the importance of African-American voters. Democrats can't win an election without them and some Republicans have tried hard to diminish their influence through various voter suppression tactics such as voter ID laws, redistricting and shrinking early voting windows.

So if all these people see the power of the black vote, why can't more African-Americans?

The fact is, when African-Americans vote in large numbers, change happens. History happens. We change laws. We elect presidents. We right injustices.

But too many African-Americans believe their votes are impotent and won't change the challenging conditions in their homes, neighborhoods, cities and country. Some see voting as a waste of time, a throwback to a bygone civil rights era. But black power has always been in African-Americans' votes, and we must start wielding our voting power more effectively to achieve true equality in society, to fund investment in low-income neighborhoods and to fix the disproportionate impact of policing and the courts upon people of color.

Not only must African-Americans vote, we must leverage those votes to hold those we elect accountable for doing what they promise on the campaign trail. Republican voters (and donors) who supported President Donald Trump have and now they're likely to get a massive tax cut. If African-Americans don't do the same, then our votes are truly worthless.

Democrats have enjoyed enormous support from African-Americans during my lifetime, yet far too many of the social, economic and racial obstacles that blacks have been complaining about for years still persist. All that inaction can't be blamed on Republicans. Broken promises should cost politicians and parties votes. Loyalty given should require loyalty in return.

The African-American vote is precious, and we should not allow politicians – any politician – to take it for granted. I'm convinced one of the reasons Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in 2016 was because she took African-American voters for granted and didn't work as hard to mobilize them in cities like Detroit, assuming they would turn out for her as they did for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. But they didn't. In fact, 750,000 fewer African-American voters cast ballots in 2016 than in 2012. That 7-percentage-point slide is the largest on record for a racial or ethnic voting bloc.

But Jones had an aggressive get-out-the-vote strategy that mobilized African-Americans in huge numbers. African-American voter turnout in Alabama Tuesday (28 percent) exceeded African-Americans' share of the state's population (26 percent). A lot of African-Americans in red states - like Kentucky - don't even bother to vote because they don't think it will make a difference against overwhelming odds. But Alabama, while an anomaly, showed that isn't always the case. That's why campaigns need to work harder to mobilize African-American voters in red states and not just in blue states with large black populations.

I hope Tuesday's election in Alabama is the start of something for African-American voters nationwide and not the end. Getting African-Americans excited enough to elect the first black president or defeat an accused pedophile and bigot is one thing, but can we sustain that same enthusiasm and discipline to head to the polls to elect local judges, school board members, City Council members and mayors? Some politicians are betting that we won't – in fact, they're counting on it.